The Football Association chairman, David Bernstein, will on Thursday brief FA councillors on proposals that look set to head off the threat of legislative intervention in the way the game is run but may leave the government looking for further assurances about future reform.

They will include a new club licensing system that will give the FA the "backstop" power to intervene in ownership and financial matters in extreme cases, measures to make clubs more accountable to fans' groups and an overhaul of the FA's committee structure.

But it is expected that football's collective response to a challenge from the minister for sport, Hugh Robertson, to reform or be forced to change will stop short of cutting the numbers on the FA board from the current 14 to 10.

While the Premier League is believed to be more relaxed about reducing its representatives from three to two, the Football League refuses to countenance a reduction from two to one for fear of reducing its influence – a stance that is broadly understood by the FA. Without a reduction in the number of representatives from the professional game, the so-called national game would also be unwilling to reduce its representation.

A rebalancing of the board was once considered a key factor in breaking the often dysfunctional logjam around the boardroom table but the FA will point to the addition of two independent non-executive directors – Heather Rabbatts and Roger Devlin – and recent evidence of more effective decision-making in its favour.

By agreeing to other reforms in the way the FA works, including ensuring key committees report directly to the main board rather than the FA Council, the three football bodies will hope to do enough to avoid government intervention.

Robertson, who has been vocal in his praise of Bernstein's handling of several difficult recent issues – including the stripping of the England captaincy from John Terry and the departure of Fabio Capello – is still likely to look for a commitment to cut the number of board members over time. He will also expect to see concrete proposals to make the FA Council a more representative body.

Robertson, who last year called football "the worst governed sport in the UK" and the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, have been vocal in their criticism but have notably softened their language of late. It may be that being able to chalk up greater progress than their Labour predecessors, who battled in vain to engage football in a reform agenda, is considered a victory.

There are also genuine signs that the FA, the Premier League and the Football League have managed to come together to work more effectively than at any time in recent memory, with talks between the three routinely described as "constructive" and "businesslike".

They will point to the new Elite Player Performance Plan, the work of Sir Trevor Brooking and Gareth Southgate in developing a grassroots development and coaching plan and the imminent opening of St George's Park as signs of progress. But history proves it would be folly to put too much store by a brief outbreak of civility.

The package of measures, the detail of which is still under discussion following tripartite talks between the FA, the Football League and the Premier League ahead of a government deadline of the end of February, are described as "evolution rather than revolution" but are likely to be enough to win cautious government approval.

Following an in-depth review by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee that was sparked by the twin failings of the England team at the World Cup in South Africa and the 2018 World Cup bid, the government last October vowed to force the FA to become "more modern, accountable and representative".

The Premier League, which initially opposed proposals for a new club licensing system for fear it would damage its independence, is expected to sign up to the scheme.

Via the Fans Fund, operated under the auspices of the Football Foundation but funded by the Premier League's TV money, there is also likely to be more support for supporters trusts and new rules forcing clubs to provide access to accounts.

The government is awaiting the detail of the joint response but will ultimately have to find a form of words to hold football's sometimes dysfunctional tribes to their promises and challenge them to prove that any green shoots are not destroyed at the first sign of a looming crisis or personality clash.